The Role of Diet Diversity and Breadth in the Maya “Collapse”

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Stability and Resilience in Zooarchaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Debate has surrounded the Terminal Classic (AD 750–900/1000) Maya “collapse,” a period when the Classic period political structure deteriorated and parts of the southern lowlands were depopulated. While these changes were the result of various developments including warfare, social unrest, environmental degradation, and climate change, one possible contributing factor was the impact of environmental change on food resources. Recent stable isotope analyses of human remains from the Belize River Valley region suggest Classic period elite diets became restricted as social statuses became more distinct, resulting in less resilient food choices during drought conditions. This study builds on these previous analyses by assessing diachronic shifts in faunal assemblages. Taxonomic richness and evenness, species diversity, and species lists are analyzed from Late/Terminal Classic contexts at four sites from the Belize Valley. These contexts, which range from everyday food refuse to special deposits, represent differing responses to stress. Results suggest that these responses lack a diversity of wild fauna across sites, which likely impacted populations as crop yields declined during extreme drought. Availability of food resources, therefore, likely played a significant role in the social and demographic changes in the southern lowlands during the Terminal Classic.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Stability and Resilience in Zooarchaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37706.0